Fighting Homelessness, One Smartphone at a Time

I live in New York City and every day on my way to work I pass a public library in midtown with a line of people waiting for it to open (~10 - 20 on most days). At the city gym I go to I also sometimes see shopping carts full of belongings parked outside while (presumably) the owners are inside showering and washing their clothing in the locker rooms.<p>In my (limited) experience, I found that those that live on the streets and the working poor are incredibly resilient and resourceful. Unfortunately, the ones that look a little rougher often appear to have some kind of mental problems that make helping them difficult.<p>NYC also has a cell phone give away program [0]. My impression is that these types of programs are used by those that are more resilient and self-reliant rather affecting their intended audience of the most vulnerable.<p>[0] <a href="http:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.freegovernmentcellphones.net&#x2F;states&#x2F;new-york-government-cell-phone-providers" rel="nofollow">http:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.freegovernmentcellphones.net&#x2F;states&#x2F;new-york-gove...</a>

There are so many obvious critiques to make here (as the article does, with august), but this initiative succeeds in at least one very important way: it treats people with innate dignity. It recognizes that even, yes even, homeless people may desire a small slice of &quot;the good life&quot;, which is increasingly just part of functioning within society, not as an outsider looking in.

I agree with this initiative and think anything that assists people in an often small step up from a tough situation, is something all communities than can do... should do.<p>The only concern that comes to mind however is one of perception, as demonstrated 3 years ago at SXSW - <a href="http:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.wired.com&#x2F;2012&#x2F;03&#x2F;the-damning-backstory-behind-homeless-hotspots-at-sxswi&#x2F;" rel="nofollow">http:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.wired.com&#x2F;2012&#x2F;03&#x2F;the-damning-backstory-behind-ho...</a><p>I&#x27;m not passing opinion here on the right&#x2F;wrong element of BBH Labs in this instance, more commenting that with vulnerable sections of society, trying something new can be so problematic and potentially brand damaging that it puts people off in taking a risk or trying something new. The comments here are all valid, I just think some consideration should be given to those brave enough to take the risk. The SXSW backlash caused many people &#x2F; companies to &#x27;back off&#x27; from these sorts of issues, which surely can&#x27;t be a good thing.

Where I life (smallish city in Western Europe) there are lots of shops offering computer with internet access for as little as 0.5€ per hour. Public libraries offer similar deals. It seems to me that investing in these kinds of offers would be more cost effective than donating smartphones, doing more good for the same money.<p>Not that I am complaining, I&#x27;m glad they are improving the lifes of people.

I thought of this problem from a different perspective. A lot of disadvantaged people, and middle class people in developing nations, already have &#x27;dumbphones&#x27;. How could we allow people to do more with basic phones?<p>I built a little service that does translation over text. If you text &quot;&lt;language&gt; &lt;text to translate&gt;&quot; to (917) 832-1965 it&#x27;ll reply with the text in the language you requested. You can read more about it here:<p><a href="http:&#x2F;&#x2F;smstranslate.divshot.io&#x2F;" rel="nofollow">http:&#x2F;&#x2F;smstranslate.divshot.io&#x2F;</a>

Or just give them the money so they can buy what they think that they need the most?